California has the most expensive gas in the United States. While drivers in Mississippi currently pay an average of $3.44 for a gallon of go-juice, residents in CA are paying $4.84. Even Hawaiians are only paying $4.82 for gas.
The ‘mystery surcharge’ on gas in California has been a source of frustration for the state’s drivers for years, and now Governor Gavin Newsom thinks he’s come up with a way to fix it. Newsom is proposing legislation that he says would end price gouging at the gas pump.
The proposal filed earlier this week suggests setting up an independent watchdog that will be part of the California Energy Commission and tasked with keeping tabs on the state’s petroleum industry activities. According to Newsom, the division would have access to information records the refiners would be legally obliged to keep, and which could reveal patterns of misconduct and price manipulation. Any violations would be referred to the Attorney General for prosecution.
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Refiners who charge more than a maximum allowable margin for the price of a gallon of gas – that margin being set by the California Energy Commission – would also be hit with penalties for price gouging under the new rules. Backers of the scheme say it could help Californians get a fairer deal at the pump and prevent Big Oil making windfall profits at a time when many people are struggling to pay for daily essentials. The world’s largest oil companies raked in roughly $200 billion in global profits in 2022 and are set for another bumper year.
“If the legislature adopts this proposal, it will be far harder for the state’s refiners to get away with what they did last year, raking in billions in excess profits while average people were forced to make difficult pocketbook decisions,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.
But others think that Newsom’s proposal is a misdirection, that the high cost of gas in California is actually the fault of the state government, and that if Newsom wants to lower prices he should cut state taxes rather than put pressure on the oil companies.